It was a spectacular, crazy, wild and woolly, frustrating, and memorable Friday evening on July 6 as the World of Outlaw Late Models made a visit to the Dubuque County Fairgrounds Speedway along with IMCA sanctioned Sport Mods and Modifieds.
It was a spectacular night for racing with the weather being almost perfect as it was warm but not overly hot and the humidity left the Midwest if just for a short time. This was the first time in a number of years that the Outlaws had paid a visit to the Dubuque and most people, knowing that the Dubuque track generally provides a great racing surface and the opportunity to do lots of passing, had this date marked on their calendar.
It felt weird to be in Dubuque for a race on a Friday but in one of the few downfalls of the night, it was really Saturday morning before everything was wrapped up on the track.
Insiders expressed two main concerns going into race night. Number one was whether or not a representative field of cars could be fielded, given the shaky status of open Late Model racing in the Hawkeye state right now and knowing that the opportunity to bring in some drivers that appear at these events from time to time was not likely given some of the special races going on this same night in Illinois and Missouri.
However, with a few surprises, some local and regional drivers jumping in to give it a whirl and just enough of the WoO regulars still with the tour, there was twenty eight cars on hand to race, enough for three solid heats .
The other concern was if the crowd would be good enough to support the event as I was told that Dubuque County race fans are not big fans of thirty dollar tickets. However, the long lines that stretched all the way out to the main gate before race time seemed to mitigate that concern and while the huge facility at Dubuque makes it hard to gauge the crowd, there seemed to be a lot of people on hand.
A big misstep served to completely change how the night played out when after they seemed to have the track in good shape for the racing, late in the afternoon they got carried away with the use of the water wagon and turned the race track into a sea of mud. It's hard to understand how this happens but this certainly wasn't the first or second time that I've seen this happen over the years. However, it doesn't make it any easier to swallow and I'm sure the competing teams let management have it with both barrels, as well they should. It was so muddy that it affected the quality of the competition as the track was then very rough and lots of equipment got torn up because of the racing surface. It also made for a much longer evening for the race fans who seemed to take the long delays well as I really didn't hear a lot of complaining but you know that there will be some lingering effects of the late start and late evening for a while.
On the bright side, there was no dust and on nights like this, lots of wild and compelling things seem to happen on the track and that was the case on Friday. There were more things going on than I could keep up with from near fights during the Late Model heats when points leader Chris Madden got his car all torn up on a crazy start and he had to go to a back up car, to depending point champion Brandon Sheppard getting a flat tire early in the main event, going to the back of the pack and then racing his way all the way back up for the win.
He got some help from other competitors who had troubles but he was driving a magnificent race on his own, and circling the rough track like no one seemed to believe possible. "Elbows up" doesn't come near close to describing the style he was using as he passed car after car and did so without wearing the others out either.
Mike Marlar was nearly as ferocious in his approach and if not for a flat tire with five laps to go, Sheppard would have been racing for second. It was a remarkable race and no doubt, one that will be talked about for quite some time. Brian Birkhofer made his return to the sport and he seemed to have no rust to knock off as he raced with the leaders all night and finished a strong fourth.
A tip of the hat should go out to whoever made the call to skip any and all B Features and run all three features with all cars. Also, they moved up the running order and made the Late Model feature the first after the second complete grading of the track(unless I lost count of how many times I did see the grader over the course of the night). That way it wasn't quite so late when the race that most had come to see was concluded but I think it was still about 11:15 pm by the time that race concluded.
The Modified feature was a good one too with Justin Kay coming from the fourth row to quickly take the lead and then hold off Austin Moyer for the win. Kay was right up against the wall as he drove by other cars and quickly got to the point but then both Matt Ganson and Moyer gave him plenty to worry about.
The Sport Mod feature was riddled with yellows, eight in total, but when they were racing the action was very good. Jerry Miles, Scott Busch and Troy Bauer were all leaders at one point until overtaken by Jason Roth. It looked like he might pull off the win until Gage Neal made a great charge and took over the lead.
However, Neal broke right toward the end while in the lead and Roth got the top spot back and this time he didn't let it get away as he held off Busch and Miles. It was about twenty after Midnight when the final checkered flag waved and I don't think I've ever been at Dubuque that late at night before.
Full fields of cars were on hand in both of the open wheel classes and they put on good shows. However, the condition of the track led to many breakdowns and yellows that probably wouldn't have happened if the track were in a different condition.
To summarize, the racing was very exciting in all three classes and a great crowd was on hand to see it. Most went home happy but they would have probably been just a bit more pleased if they wouldn't have had to sit through all the down time and watch the packing vehicles circle the track almost for ever. Drivers and crews also probably enjoyed the exciting action but many weren't pleased about all the repairs that they would be looking at doing to their race cars. It was a shame that they miss fired so badly on the track prep, particularly on a night when so much was on the line and so many people were watching to see how things would go. But, for those that weren't in a hurry to leave and didn't have to pay the repair bills on the race cars, it was a highly entertaining night of racing. I suspect that the Outlaws will want Dubuque on their schedule again in 2019; however, they may also want the keys to the water truck too!
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